Stringy Ervin poses with his 1931 Chevy Coach at his home. Ervin, 46-year Littleton High School swim coach, retired and was photographed on June 11, 2014. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Retired Littleton coach Maurice “Stringy” Ervin was named the 2014 National Federation of State High School Associations Coaches Association girls swimming and diving coach of the year, the organization announced Friday.

Ervin retired in May after coaching for 49 years, most which were at Littleton High School.

“I hope I helped some kids out,” Ervin said in a May 2014 interview with The Denver Post. “My philosophy was that I wanted to coach everybody — I didn’t just want to coach the good ones and have the assistants take the other ones.”

In 2001 The Denver Post awarded Ervin the The Denver Post awarded Ervin the Dave Sanders Award, presented each year in honor of slain Columbine High School coach Dave Sanders to a high school coach who not only has longevity and success in the ranks of teaching and coaching but also has outstanding character.

Regis Jesuit High School sophomore Mckensi Austin performed her first of three dives during competition Saturday. The CHSAA 5A Girl’s State Swimming Championships wrapped up on Feb. 14, 2014. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Seven high school divers from Colorado were named 2013-14 All-Americans by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.

Mullen’s David Hoffer and Regis Jesuit’s Kyle Goodwin were the Class 4A and 5A boys state champions, respectively. St. Mary’s Academy’s Alexa Beckwith and Regis Jesuit’s McKensi Austin were the 4A and 5A girls state champions.

On Friday in the Class 4A swimming and diving preliminaries at the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins, the times may not have seemed as fast as in past years, but don’t tell that to the likes of Hannah Driscoll of Niwot.

The senior finished the 50-yard freestyle in 23.60 seconds to overtake the 2013 mark of Evergreen’s Lexie Malazdrewicz by .13 of a second.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.